Feeding individual components from a disordered bulk storage is a common task in automated industrial systems. Feeding devices using many different principles and in different embodiments are known for specific feeding tasks. One common type of component feeder is a vibratory bowl feeder which uses a vibratory movement to advance, orient and sort the components. Typical for vibratory bowl feeders and for many other types of feeders is that they need to be customized for a specific component. At the feeder outlet the components are arranged in a well-defined position and orientation for further processing. A feeder using a rotating disc for advancing components to pass an orientation filter is disclosed in WO89/02865. The feeder according to WO89/02865 further discloses a lift for selecting a number of components from a bulk storage. An upper surface of the lift is inclined such that gravity causes the components to glide on the rotating disc.
Flexible feeders exist which are not limited to a certain component but can handle a variety of different components. Such feeders typically use a vision system for recognizing the components, and a robot for picking up the recognized components. One such flexible feeder is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,831 wherein a set of conveyors is used to spread the components appropriately on a pick surface from where a gripper can pick them up after being recognized by a vision system. The feeder according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,831 is complicated especially because specific transport means are required for returning the remaining components back to the bulk storage. Moreover, as the bulk storage needs to be horizontally displaced in relation to the pick surface, the pick surface area is small in comparison to the total footprint of the feeder. U.S. Pat. No. 7,028,829 provides a similar solution with similar problems.
DE10126188 discloses another type of flexible feeder which uses a lift to select a number of components from a bulk storage. A lift platform on which the components are resting is then vibrated or rotated to spread the components such that they can be easily recognized by a vision system and picked by a manipulator. The area of the lift platform needs to be relatively small in relation to the total footprint of the feeder, and consequently the pick surface area is also small. In order for the components to be well-spread many of them need to be returned back to the bulk storage, which leads to an undesired wear of the components to be fed.